Donors seem to love DAFs (Donor Advised Funds). Community foundations sell them. Fidelity and Schwab sell them. There are billions of dollars of charitable funds held in these vehicles. Last year, at Fidelity alone, donors authorized 428,000 grants for $1.6 billion from their DAFs, and put another
$3.6 billion into their charitable accounts.

And now the purveyors of these funds, along with a pilot group of nonprofits, have developed a way for donors to move money directly from their DAFs to a nonprofit through a widget on the nonprofits website. It's called DAF Direct - and it is being piloted with ten nonprofits: American Red Cross; Boston Symphony Orchestra; Charity Navigator; Cradles to Crayons;
Feeding America; Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Pan-
Massachusetts Challenge; Save the Children; and WGBH.

The plan as announced will make the DAFDirect widget available to nonprofits and other purveyors of donor advised funds.

Why is this blog called Philanthropy 2173?

This is a blog about the future. The year 2173 seems sufficiently far enough in the future to give us some perspective. As sure as we are of ourselves now, talking about the future - and making philanthropic investments - requires that we keep a sense of modesty and humor about what we are doing. Philanthropy is for the long-term - for the year 2173.